Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Owen Davies

Description

Magic is a much-used term with a complex and controversial history. As a concept and a practice, it has attracted the attention of theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, artists, and historians over the centuries. This Very Short Introduction explains why. Magic has been defined in terms of the false religions of others, as an evolutionary stage in human thought, a universal state of mind, and a liberating expression of the imagination. For hundreds of millions of people today, no matter their religious persuasion, magic is a real force that helps them to overcome misfortune, poverty, and illness. Indeed, with magic as relevant today as it ever was, it raises questions about the meaning of human progress.

Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Owen Davies

Author Information

Owen Davies is Professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. He has written extensively on the history of magic, witchcraft, and ghosts, including Grimoires: A History of Magic Books.

Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Owen Davies

From Our Blog

Some reviewers of the first episodes of the current BBC1 adaptation have dismissed it is over-blown fantasy, even childish, yet Clarke's characters are only once removed from the very real magical world of early nineteenth-century England. What few readers or viewers realise is that there were magicians similar to Strange and Norrell at the time: there really were 'Friends of English Magic', to whom the novel's Mr Segundus appealed in a letter to The Times.

The recent battle between religion and science conducted in the media, spearheaded by Professor Richard Dawkins and other high-profile figures, has garnered much international attention. The debate is not new of course; it stretches back several centuries. One aspect of the debate that receives less attention today is the issue of magic: a concept which is inextricably linked to the history of science and religion. The notion of both science and religion as magic is as relevant today as it ever was.